Influenza

Chapter Nineteen

Disclaimer: Nope. Not my show.

Authors Note: Oh, I really don't feel like writing right now, because I've got a cold or something, but I'm going to get this out anyway... Better now than later, I guess.


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Later that night, after Olivia had already gone back home, Elliot, Dickey, and Lizzie curled up on the couch to watch a movie, Kathleen having locked herself in the room she and her sister shared to do her homework and chat on the phone. Elizabeth snuggled up to her father, resting her head on his shoulder and Dickey sat on the love seat, in full independence mode. He wasn't a little boy anymore, so any affection shared between he and his father was not allowed.

Not much was said during the movie, save for the usual chatter about what was going on with the main character. The three simply sat in the darkened room, enjoying the company of each other, which was something that none of them had been able to do much lately. When the movie was nearly over, Kathleen emerged from the bedroom and sat down next to her sister, but leaned against the arm of the couch, rather than the younger girl. She had seen the movie already, so she knew what was going on, and didn't need things to be explained to her. And, once again, all was quiet.

As the credits began to roll, his middle child spoke, "When were you planning on telling Maureen about you and Olivia?" she questioned, adverting her eyes from her fathers, in a very guilty-like way.

"...Why?" Elliot asked, wondering what on earth his daughter had been up to and how much she could have done in just an hour and a half.

"Well..." Kathleen started, "she kind of called me."

Elliot's eyebrows arched, "Kind of?"

"Ok, I called her." the seventeen year old confessed.

"And?"

"Well, she asked how you were doing..."

"Oh?" Elliot said, "What did you tell her?"

Kathleen licked her lips, then began to chew on her bottom one. A sign that told Elliot she was nervous, "ThatyouandOliviaaredating." she said quickly, her words coming out as one jumbled word. Even though Elliot had caught on to what it was she had told her sister, he looked at his daughter in a way that clearly told her to say her last statement once again, albeit slower.

The young woman sighed, "I told her that you are dating Olivia."

"What did she say?" Elliot wanted to know, as he fiddled with the braids of his youngest daughters hair. In the morning Elizabeth would brush her hair out and it would be slightly curly, which was something she often did. Seeing her hair as it was reminded Elliot of when she was younger and wore braids just for the sake of wearing braids, not as an easy way to achieve a higher hair style.

"She said 'I told you so'."

"'I told you so'?" Elliot questioned. "She told you that Olivia and I would end up dating?"

"When you and mom announced your divorce," Dickey replied for his sister, speaking for the first time in the conversation. "She said it to us all. We didn't listen to her."

"Hmm," Elliot said, shrugging slightly. "So, she's alright with the idea?"

Kathleen nodded, "Yeah. More than so. She loves it."

"That's good," he hugged his youngest daughter close to him, since she was the only one who had been sore about his new relationship, and Elizabeth allowed him to do so, still a bit uncomfortable with the fact that her father was dating somebody. And not just some random Jane off of the streets, somebody she knew. Somebody she had known for six years, a woman who had watched her grow up. Somebody she admired greatly. It was awkward. But... her father seemed happy because of it. She couldn't really be annoyed with her father's happiness, could she?

"Well," he announced, "it's already after 10 o'clock. I'm sure you guys won't actually go to sleep, but I want your bottoms in bed by 10:30."

"Dad..." Dickey whined, "it's still early." The look on his father's face was incredulous and Dickey knew his argument wasn't going to get him anywhere, and it wasn't like he had to really go to sleep. "Alright... but that means you have to go to bed, too... I need the couch-bed."

"I have to wake up early for work," Elliot reminded his only son. "I was already planning on going to sleep."

Dickey scowled; his other plan had backfired. The downside of having a cop for a father, he assumed, as he got out of the over-sized chair he had been sitting in. His sisters and dad got off of the sofa and Dickey and Elliot pulled the cushions off and got the bed out from the couch, then retreved the sheets and pillows and blankets for it, and the boy proceeded in making his bed while his father and sisters went off to their rooms.

The perk of sleeping in the living room was the access to the TV. When Dickey got himself situated in the bed, he flipped on the television and laid back on his pillows. Flipping through the stations, he searched for a fairly decent program, and ended up leaving it on the news, while he waited for Jay Leno to come on.

The reporter was talking about some high-profile child abuse case that the Manhattan SVU had taken to court, and his interest perked slightly. The show suddenly switched to a clip of the courthouse, whereupon a redheaded ADA and a darker skinned attorney were walking out of the building. Dickey recognized the woman as Casey, whom he had met only twice, and the attorney was somebody unfamiliar to him. Then again, from the stories his father had told him, he wasn't sure he would like knowing the defense attorney, anyway. A few seconds after the lawyers came out of the building, a cluster of other people emerged, two of which he identified immediately. His father and Olivia were walking out of the courthouse, amongst other spectators of the case, but something was different about them. They were smiling.

Perhaps it was the fact that they had just won their case, and sent a negligent, druggie mother to jail for not keeping her five year old out of her crack and leaving the child to overdose and nearly die. Dickey knew those smiles though, and they were always bittersweet. To win a case was a great thing, of course, but that still didn't mean things were perfect. The fact of the matter would always be that somebody had been hurt, and that couldn't be changed, no matter how many cases they win and how long the perps went to Rikers for. The smiles that the two wore were genuine and after a few seconds of watching, Dickey noticed that Olivia was actually laughing quietly. Had his father said something funny to make her laugh?

While Casey Novak spoke to the TV reporter, his father and his fathers partner walked down the steps of the court house, and stood off to the side, waiting for her, but in plain view of the camera. Elliot turned his back away from the device, but part of Olivia's face was still visible, and Dickey could still make out the lines of a smile. Casey glanced over her shoulder, excused herself from the woman who was asking questions, leaving the eager defense attorney to jump in and rant about appeals. For a few seconds, the other three were still in view, and Dickey, along with whoever else was watching, could see the fair skinned lady walk over to the two and strike up a conversation. As they talked, they walked off, and away from the camera.

Dickey thought about what he had witnessed, as he turned off the TV and curled up under his blankets. His father had dropped the bomb on him that day, and he had been completely taken by the shocking news, but was the idea so outlandish? There had been many opportunities before that could have allowed him to see the truth, one of them only a few hours before, but he had ignored them. Now, though, he was beginning to recall earlier things that would have lead him to the discovery that his father had filled him on earlier. Strange smiles that had suddenly appeared on his fathers face, slight humming every now and then, and not to mention the fact that he would shy off every time one of the girls asked about Olivia, almost as if he was afraid to give something away to them.

Maybe his father was telling the truth, and he and Olivia had only just started dating. But there was no way that whatever feelings they had shared had accumulated over night, they must have felt whatever way for months, possibly even years. Had his father loved another woman while he was still married to his mother? He must have been, the two of them had only been officially divorced for a few weeks. Had his mother known? Did she notice it before his father, himself, did? Was that why she wanted the divorce?

Dickey pushed the thoughts from his mind, deciding that none of it really mattered anymore. The past was just that, the past. Nothing could be changed about it, and all that was left was the accept the present and hope for the future. So, the teenage boy said his prayers and closed his eyes, thoughts of his father's future dancing through his mind, keeping him from his slumber.

What happened if things between his father and Olivia continued at the pace they were going? Would the two eventually get married?

And, if it did happen, would he be ok with it?

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Dickey voiced his musings to his twin sister the next morning, as they brushed their teeth in the guest bathroom. Elizabeth confessed that she, too, had similar thoughts and had come to the conclusion that it was something that would most likely happen, possible sometime soon.

"What if it does?" Dickey asked, spitting out the foam from his mouth and gurgling water.

"We accept her as our step-mother. There aren't many options besides that. I like Olivia though, Dickey, and I would rather dad love her than any other woman. I don't want to have to live with a total stranger, you know? At least this is somebody that we like and somebody we know." She shrugged and did the same as her brother. "That doesn't mean we have to view her as our mother or anything."

Her brother had nodded in agreement, "You wouldn't call her mom?"

"No," Lizzie admitted. "That mostly happens when the children are younger, you know? Like five."

"You really think they're going to get married, then?"

"The truth?" Lizzie said, sitting down on the side of the tub and sighing. "I'm kind of hoping for it, you know? I really do like Olivia, she's somebody that I can talk with and not worry about her thinking of me as a silly teenager. I want dad to be happy but I don't want him to go out and date some stuffy woman who sees us as his children and nothing more than that."

"Well, we already know that Kathleen and Maureen would jump on the idea of Dad and Olivia getting married..."

"They know her better than we do," Elizabeth explained. "We were really young when we met her and so we haven't really had the chance to learn as much about her, or her about us. It only makes sense that they're more open to the idea, I guess."

"I wonder what mom thinks about this all..." Dickey mused, leaning against the closed door. "Dad said that she knows and accepts the idea, but I wonder what she really thinks."

Lizzie shrugged, "I wouldn't just go up and ask her, Dickey, this is kind of a touchy subject."

"Yeah..." he agreed. "What if she has a boyfriend, too?"

His sister frowned, "Maybe."

"You wouldn't like the idea of her being involved with somebody?" Dickey questioned, his arms folded across his chest as he leaned on the door.

"Chances are," Liz explained to him, "if she is, we don't know a thing about the guy..."

"True," Dickey sighed. "There's really not much we can do about that, though."

"Kids!" their father called from the kitchen, cutting their conversation short. "Breakfast is ready."

Dickey was out of the bathroom in a shot, leaving his sister behind, smiling to herself, "I'll be out in a few minutes, Dad!" she called, standing in front of the mirror and pulling out her make-up bag. She put on very little make-up, deciding on only foundation and lip gloss, then went out to join her sister, brother, and father for the most important meal of the day. And, a pretty important conversation, along with it.

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A/N: Eh, a kind of boring chapter... That's just how things came out. Let me know what you think.
A bit of a cliffhanger, but... you know how it is. Sometimes they are unavoidable. Sorry.